Children's home run by Educare Adolescent Services Limited in Cannock Chase

Inspection report children’s home: SC428750 1 SC428750 Registered provider: Educare Adolescent Services Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home is registered to provide care for up to three children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

p.1

Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC428750 2

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

 The home is comfortable and welcoming and young people personalise their rooms.  Young people quickly form warm and trusting relationships with the child- focused and caring staff.  Young people have fun with staff, who encourage them to engage in a wide range of activities, both in the home and in the community.  Young people feel listened to and the perceptive staff prioritise young people’s views, wishes and feelings.  Young people make progress in their emotional, social, physical and educational development, self-confidence and independence skills.  Highly trained and experienced staff keep young people safe and follow clear procedures when young people go missing.  Staff work with young people to help them to understand how to keep themselves safe.  The newly appointed registered manager understands the strengths and areas for development in her team and is working with staff to drive up standards.

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 Staff work closely with other professionals and family members to ensure that young people’s needs are identified and met.

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 Written handover records lack sufficient detail to ensure that new or agency staff can fully understand the key issues for young people.  Increased evidence is needed that the registered manager has regular oversight of the incident records to ensure the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies.  Staff’s recording of the work that they undertake with young people sometimes lacks sufficient detail to make it useful for other staff and for young people.

p.2

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/05/2016 Full Good 24/02/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 29/10/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC428750 3

p.2

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

p.3

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.3

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.3

Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) and (2) (e)) 31/07/2017

p.3

Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that ensures that—

p.3

Requirement Due date

the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1) and (2) (b) (e))

p.3

Requirement Due date

In particular, improve the level of detail about each child in the written records of staff handovers. 31/07/2017

p.3

Recommendations

 Ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report children’s home: SC428750 4

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people like living in this comfortable, welcoming and well-maintained home. They personalise their rooms and sensitive staff support one young person to care for his pet fish and hamster. Young people settle in quickly and form positive and warm relationships with staff, with whom they have a lot of fun. One young person, who has very recently been admitted to the home, said, ‘The staff are really nice.’ He attends the young people’s meetings where he can express his views, wishes and feelings and says that staff listen to him. He says that he can go to the staff if he has a problem and that he trusts them. Another young person said that he is happy here and that the staff understand him. Young people are encouraged to express themselves and staff offer them independent advocates if they need additional support.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Dedicated staff help young people to identify areas of interest which they can develop. One young person, who has now left, spent time at a local stables learning horsemanship skills, which supported his physical and emotional well-being in addition to having a significant impact on his self-esteem, confidence and work skills. He has now successfully moved back to his family. Young people enjoy attending a local boxing club with enthusiastic staff, who also encourage healthy eating and keeping fit in order to support young people’s physical development.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make significant progress in their confidence, independence, education, and in managing their emotions and behaviour. One young person now confidently uses public transport. Another young person commented that the staff are very clear about rules and boundaries and that this has helped him to manage his own behaviour.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The social worker for one young person said, ‘From the time he was accommodated here till now (which is less than a year), there seems to be a remarkable improvement in his behaviour. He has expressed that he is very happy in the home and would like to remain there; he feels very safe in placement and he has informed me he gets on well with all the staff that support him.’

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Another social worker said that staff have helped one young person address his emotional needs significantly, ‘He had not opened up before like this. Staff are providing significant input and I feel that the staff can achieve a lot with him.’

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When young people leave the home, they experience a positive transition, which is followed up by supportive telephone calls from staff. They know that they will be welcomed if they wish to come back to visit the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC428750 5

p.4

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Young people say that they feel safe. Staff are highly trained in safeguarding and are skilled in enabling young people to experience independence and unsupervised free time, while keeping them safe. Vigilant staff maintain regular telephone contact with young people when they are out by themselves. They provide clear rules and boundaries that young people understand and comply with, such as the time that they are to be back at the home. When young people do go missing, staff search for them and follow clear protocols.

p.5

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The up-to-date locality risk assessment provides staff with additional information about any risks in the community. Staff work closely with the police and ensure that young people receive safe and well checks when they return from going missing. The social worker for one young person said, ‘He has a pattern of not coming home but staff respond well; they are proactive in keeping in touch with him and reporting to the police if he doesn’t return from free time. The registered manager plans meetings to discuss his [going] missing and ensures that we are all working together.’

p.5

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff work closely with family members and local authorities to help identify risks and to reduce them. Regularly reviewed risk assessments are detailed and effective and help staff to reduce and manage risks. Young people are encouraged to contribute to discussions about their risk assessments and behaviour management plans, so that they can suggest ways of managing risks themselves.

p.5

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff undertake key-work sessions with young people to help them learn to keep safe and address issues of child sexual exploitation, bullying, the link between feelings and behaviour, relationships and internet safety. The local police visit the home to promote positive relationships with the young people and are booked to deliver training to the young people about gang cultures. One young person is assessed as being at risk of child sexual exploitation, but has been kept safe by staff.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been in post since March 2017. She holds a level 5 qualification in leadership and management. She also manages another home in the company, which has been judged as good. The members of her staff team are either appropriately qualified or have been enrolled to begin their level 3 diploma in residential childcare. All staff have been trained in first aid.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The child-focused new manager and deputy are both very experienced and they have supported staff and young people to adjust to the changes. Care of young people has remained consistent, as have the clear rules and boundaries which provide them with security and stability. Staff receive regular and positive supervision, which encourages reflection and supports their practice. Training is up to date and relevant, and staff and managers are beginning to work with the playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy (PACE) model to enable them to enhance the therapeutic approach to their work with young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC428750 6 Staff feel supported by the team and consider that they work well together, listening to young people and enabling them to identify goals, make choices and celebrate achievements. One staff member commented that they are a very caring team and that they are successful in communicating with young people because, ‘We come

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff work very effectively with a wide range of professionals to identify and meet the needs of young people. These include the police, social workers, drug and alcohol services, child and adolescent mental health services, youth offending, health, education and the National Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders. Professionals speak positively about the quality of cooperation, information-sharing and communication with staff. One social worker stated, ‘Staff are quick to update me with any necessary information. I can’t fault them with that.’ Another social worker commented positively that the registered manager attended the placement planning and education meeting for a young person.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

One family member confirmed that she receives regular updates on the young person and commented that the staff are, ‘very caring, friendly and cheerful’. She feels that the staff work together well as a team.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

While still new in post, the registered manager has identified the strengths and areas for development in her team and is strongly focused on developing the team in order to drive up standards even further. She gathers feedback from staff, young people, professionals and family members to review and evaluate the service.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff record-keeping and handover records would benefit from being more detailed in order to provide both staff and young people with valuable information and ensure that new and agency staff work as a team to provide continuity of care. The registered manager does not fully evidence her managerial review of incident records and regular monitoring of the effectiveness of the child protection policy. Inspection report children’s home: SC428750 7

p.6

Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

p.7

Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC428750 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Educare Adolescent Services Limited

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, 12 Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock, Staffordshire WS11 0LG

p.8

Inspector

Louise Whittle, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC428750 9 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

p.8

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9